Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!

Yeah, there’s that picture out there…

It’s me with a feathered headband, war paint, decked out in pseudo-Sioux regalia…

Or me, all gussied up in an ersatz SS uniform, copy of Mein Kampf tucked under my arm…

Ok, that was me as a 9-year-old Cub Scout and me heading out to a junior high Halloween party.

I wouldn’t do that today.

To some folks, that wouldn’t matter. For some folks, an old photo they find offensive is reason to put a person’s life and livelihood on the line.

“There’s no time limit on racism,” claimed the chief equity officer for Hennepin Healthcare, joining the chorus calling to end the careers of caught on film in a private moment years ago.

Last week the Strib ran the photo – inside, complete with a front-page trigger warning for those whose noses go easily out of joint. It appears to show three women in dark makeup impersonating the 1960’s Motown trio, the Supremes. It’s not a bad likeness -- in terms of hairstyle, costume, pose, expression – like a tribute band, not an Al Jolson-style blackface parody.

And, by the way, it was supposedly taken about 10 years ago. Presumably not for publication.

The photo was provided by an unnamed individual. No further context was provided.

It’s put the careers of several emergency services professionals on the line.

Now take a deep breath and think, “Have I ever done anything, said anything, thought anything that might get some sensitive individual’s undies in a knot?”

I betcha have… Nobody’s such a colorless saint that we haven’t laughed at an out-of-line joke, skit, or comment; nodded agreement to an unorthodox opinion; entertained observations we know are best kept to ourselves.

We’re all aware that what we think to ourselves, what we might share with an intimate partner or with family and a close circle of friends is different from what we do and say on the job or out in public. How many things are you going to think, do, or say today that you wouldn’t share with the folks at work, at school, or sitting in the next pew at church?

Yeah, that’s none of their business. Each of us will, at least privately, hold on to our right to think what the next guy considers to be unsavory thoughts, noxious ideas, insensitive observations, or vile opinions. Truth be told, we don’t think much of what he’s thinking either.

And we hold that we have the right to change our minds; abandon outmoded ideas and adopt new attitudes and behaviors. We believe we can change and that others should observe and accept that we have changed. Isn’t that what Christian’s mean when they refer to being “born again.”

But some folks don’t buy into that anymore. Folks who would destroy lives and careers based on a 10-year-old photo they don’t like. Folks who destroy lives and careers based on ideas and opinions they dislike and disagree with. Folks who insist that their taking personal offense equates to your committing a criminal offense; to deviate from the deemed-acceptable is to be punished.

George Orwell christened it Thought Crime. Stalin was a big fan. It’s the law in North Korea. It may be coming soon to a state, community, workplace or school near you.

At stake is the right to parody, to poke fun; to point out absurdities; to critique, to complain, to pass judgement. To think and say what each of us believes needs to be thought and said -- the right to hold personal opinions regarded as heretical by the orthodox.

In short, the right to be wrong.

On the bright side, we quit burning heretics at the stake 400 years ago.

Now we just get them fired.